Idolatry in 21st Century

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A GROUP of Kuwaiti youths decided to make a statue for His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah who has been granted the title, Leader of Humanitarian Work.

The statue was established in Britain and coated with copper layer for protection. The statue will be brought to Kuwait where it will be installed in one of the main squares or in one of the official palaces.

We felt so happy upon seeing the statue which will immortalize the memory of a unique person. A man is mortal but good deeds remain forever for whoever seeks a good example to follow. The United Nations Secretary General recently praised the achievements of HH the Amir – whether on the Gulf, regional or global levels saying: “Amir of Kuwait is a unique Statesman who exerted tremendous efforts to maintain regional stability.”

We waited patiently to see the statue in Kuwait until it happened as we expected. We heard radical voices objecting as if they want to send us back to tens of centuries. They said statues are prohibited in Islam, pointing out that they are afraid people will worship these statues after some time.

Perhaps, this opinion was correct at the beginning of Islam because Islam started in an environment where idolatry was adopted by the people of the Arab Peninsula for centuries. They even used to offer sacrifices for their ugly statues which they worshiped.

Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) destroyed the ugly statues installed around Kaaba on the very day he restored Makkah for fear that the new Muslims then would continue worshiping them considering the idols a way to make them closer to God. What Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) did was a sign that a new religion, Islam, is dominant.

Throughout history, we have seen many countries adopting different religions including Islam, Christianity and others with a lot of statues but no one started to worship them. This is clear in the Pharoses civilization in Egypt and Ashore civilization in Iraq. However, the people of Egypt and Iraq continued adopting Islam and we have never seen them worshiping statues. Many European countries like Italy, France and others have large a number of statues but none of the Christians worshiped the statues.

I would like to ask the dark lovers living in Kuwait to stop talking on behalf of Islam, because this tolerant religion contrasts their ideology a hundred percent.

By Ali Ahmed Al-Baghli

Former Minister of OIl

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